CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

Building my sons dream k5

73Carlow

Registered Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2023
Posts
18
Reaction score
29
Location
Montana
<a href="https://ibb.co/FhbnB03"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/qDMxRWj/50-C8949-A-4-BD0-495-F-93-C3-50-B1-CCBAA674.png" alt="50-C8949-A-4-BD0-495-F-93-C3-50-B1-CCBAA674" border="0" /></a>



3 weeks ago I picked up this 79’ Blazer in Minnesota. Checked the oil, diffs and transmission fluid. Shook the loose front end parts to confirm they were good enough to make it back to Montana And hit the the road.

I purchased this K5 for a father /son project with my 11 year old son. He loves these square body K5s and I figure in 5 years it will be pretty nice, and I get to daily it until he is 16! It appears to be a Custom Delux with a trailering Package, power rear window that works and a factory 350 ( based on vin ).


The bad and what it Needs-
The outer floors and rockers - rust repair starts this month.
Every part on the front end needs replaced but there isn’t any evidence of frame damage around the steering box, yet.
Has long tube headers on a low horsepower 350 - for the record that doesn’t make it do anything better. Looking to get some shorties or 2.5” ram horns.

The good and good enough for now

New dealer installed crate long block seems tight and runs great
Fresh turbo 350 transmission
New radiator
New brakes- master / calipers and some lines
The body has some dents on front fenders but it’s a solid truck with no rust on the body or frame - just rockers and very outside floors.

I have about a grand in parts headed my way from LMC and Jeggs so should be seeing plenty of updates the next couple months.
 
Hi and Welcome @73Carlow. Father and son projects are great, my son, 34, still has ours, and is using some the lessons learned in his day job now. Just keep it fun and don't push, and will be a great experience.
 
Welcome! You found a great place for info. Great looking rig and it will be a great project.
 
Hi and Welcome @73Carlow. Father and son projects are great, my son, 34, still has ours, and is using some the lessons learned in his day job now. Just keep it fun and don't push, and will be a great experience.
Yeah that’s cool. Around here it’s sort of a family tradition. My dad taught me cars, back in the nearly 90’s I couldn’t afford a street rod so I got into VW then on to street racing and Toyotas and classics..
 
Love it. Big fan of father kid projects. My dad’s bronco was father son. My blazer is father daughter. And my 4Runner is father son.
Dang! thats Great that you have projects and are making those memories with your entire family. My daughter hasn’t figured out what she wants yet but she started racing motocross at 5 years old so I suspect she will be wanting something cool, she is only8 now.
 
Purchased some new Milestar Patagonia 35’s

Fixed the drag link drove it for a week and then I tore it all down to do the dreaded rust repair
 
So patch panels for these rugs are really bad. Thin metal and nothing truly matches up with stock floors in blazer and the actual rocker ended up being about a 1/4” too short. The front inner kick panel was pretty accurate however the depth to the gutter that dropped down for the weather stripping area was also too shallow.

So we took 16th inch steel and sectioned it into roughly 10” and bent the metal in sort of an M with a true 90 in the center 1” sections.

This is better than any patch panel as far as creating a strong inner rocker that actually spans the distance of the floor. Best solution for out floor rust and inner rocker replacement.

 
 
life took over the year or so. Finished up the blazer floors - a buddy of mine runs a shop in Billings, MT. William did a great job of getting the truck finished up. Reach out if you are in Montana and need any hot rod help engines to rust repair and everything in between- I will put you in touch with him.
 
 
You guys did a really great job with the rust repair! Most people don't go to the lengths required to actually recreate the original panels, how they overlap, etc. They just slap sheet metal over the holes and weld it in. And I don't necessarily blame them, especially with how many of the replacement panels fit (or rather, don't fit). But seeing work like this is very impressive. It's not easy and it takes a ton of time. Even looking at the bare floor pans under the carpet, it's hard to tell they were repaired at all compared to clean original floors.

The truck looks awesome! I bet your son loves it.
 
. It's not easy and it takes a ton of time. Even looking at the bare floor pans under the carpet, it's hard to tell they were repaired at all compared to clean original floors.

The truck looks awesome! I bet your son loves it.
Thanks - my buddy William deserves all the credit! I learned a lot, and ultimately figured out that your further ahead to make your own patch panels. I Bought all the junk aftermarket crap pans. All garbage! Lost a lot of money buying those and non of them are designed for the blazer. We decided to use a metal break and I believe 16 gage metal? Took the floors down to bare natal, acid etched and automotive primer. Then had a close match to the paint blended and sprayed.

Yes my boy was stoked! Soon after it was finished we hit the road and drove it to the Oregon coast and back to Montana and down to Colorado as well!
 
Spent the last couple days cleaning up the dash wiring and chasing down the radio short / blowing fuses mystery.

Installed new headlight switch and wiring plug for the switch( not necessary). Still had some weird blipping out of headlights so I switched out the dimmer switch and that fixed it! Also put in a new wiper switch. Very thing there is working as it should.

Problem was that I could not figure out why my radio fuse was blowing and I checked EVERYTHING and cut a few thing just to make sure they weren’t the source of the short.

The entire time I kept glancing ast the horn relay and finally ( should have pulled it first) I took it out and threw in another fuse and sure as hell the radio didn’t blow the fuse!

Horn relay was the problem!

 
Updated the wheels, exhaust and shocks recently

Wheels - US MAG 15x10 Indy mags
Exhaust - switched the dual exhaust out to single 21/2 side dump out the rear with a magna flow open
Shocks - Standard aluminum body FOX for 3” lift
 

Latest Posts

Top Bottom